Salty Sweet
by madewellfanatic
Summary: What if Bella and Edward met when Bella was only five? Edward still left yet couldn't stay away. Now he's back after eleven years. BxE
1. Nape

**Hi. First story here. Let's see how it goes, eh? Oh and I need a beta if any one is interested.**

**Stephenie owns Twilight. Unfortunately.**

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Prolouge

Bag, money, keys. Check, check, check. I swung the door open and my heart jumped in my chest.

_Burnt crispy autumn leaves twisted and swam around my head. I sighed a steaming dewy breath into the chilling wind and turned on my heel._

"_Please Eddie, please, please please." I whined, cupping my hands together._

"_No, we can't stay out late. You're mom would be furious." A velvet silk voice whispered into my ear. I pouted crossing my arms across my chest, spun from him and violently sat down on the ground. I could hear a deep huff coming from behind me and I knew I had won the battle. I felt safe arms gently wrap around me lifting me up and pressing my face into his chest. He always smelled the same. Sweet and rough all at the same time. Nuzzling close into his chest I pressed my nose against his cotton lined jacket, trying my best to convince him to stay just a little later._

"_Oh all right," he sighed, sounding defeated but not too upset, "I guess we could stay out here on the swings for five more minutes. I grinned and wiggled in his arms, itching to get on the swings and jump off just to have him catch me._

_The vision swam, lurching forward. _

"_Higher, higher! Throw me higher!" My voice breathless from laughing, the feeling of childhood swimming into my head suffocating me with sweet happiness. Hands covered in sweet leather gloves threw me into the air, and gently pulled me back down, breathlessly laughing from amusement._

The vision ended, and I was still frozen in my spot staring directly into the face of an angel. This was the face of the man in my dreams, the one with me as a little girl. I almost choked just at the sight of him. His hair, a perfect mess of molten autumn leaves, rusty, and shinning. Two pairs of desperate caramel and honey eyes bored into my own, searching for something and seeming to come alive with each second that passed. As if he recognized me too…I shook my head once, glancing down then back up into his face. A frozen porcelain hand still poised over the door ready to knock.

"Is there something you need?" I asked breathlessly, my cheeks turning a bright scarlet color. My body screamed at me, a memories swirling and spinning around my head. I knew him, I knew this beautiful man. He was in my dreams. The only question was, why was he standing gloriously in front of me.

"I'm not sure." His eyes bored deeply into mine, churning and sizzling with a staggering amount of emotions. We stood in achingly calm silence.


	2. Curve

**Okay, so I got really excited and decided to update quickly! For now, the chapters will be short but I expect them to get longer as time progresses. **

**Again, Stephenie owns all. **

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**Curve:**

_"Is there something you need?" I asked breathlessly, my cheeks turning a bright scarlet color. My body screamed at me, a memories swirling and spinning around my head. I knew him, I knew this beautiful man. He was in my dreams. The only question was, why was he standing gloriously in front of me._

_"I'm not sure." His eyes bored deeply into mine, churning and sizzling with a staggering amount of emotions. We stood in achingly calm silence._

I exhaled the tension in the breath that I had subconsciously been holding. "You're not sure."

He nodded his head in agreement, yet had nothing else to offer, his caramel eyes sparkling with tenderness. Wait, tenderness?

Here I was, standing in my doorway of my tiny little New York apartment, gazing into the eyes of a man I knew, but didn't quite know, and I was thoroughly confused. His beauty was staggering with the sharp lines of his porcelain skin reflecting the ivory light from above, his lips a pouty full pink with rose undertones, his thick drenching lashes that cast delicate shadows across his structured cheek bones and his jaw line that stood proudly as he clenched his pearly white teeth. My mind swam around his beauty and my confusion and our current situation and the growing awkwardness.

My nervousness and confusion caused my fat mouth to open, "Do you want to go get coffee?" He stood silent and strangely still in the light green chipped doorway. My damn rambling continued. "I mean, you don't have to get coffee with me, I barely know you, but I feel like I know you. Okay, I mean there is this feeling in the pit of my stomach and you just look _so _familiar that it is kind of freaking me out." Mentally I was screaming at myself. You stupid girl, way to scare the pretty man off with your petty and disconnected train process. My words, thankfully, died out and I stood fearfully, waiting for a reply.

He took a step back, in disbelief maybe, his bronze hair shifting slightly, and placed his hands into his faded snuggly fitting dark blue jeans. The fabric clung to his toned legs, curving and displaying the evident muscles laying beneath. My mouth watered slightly. Pain flashed through his eyes as he inhaled deeply. I winced. Did I smell bad? Was he annoyed that he was going to have to now turn me down? Holy crap. What did he mean by "I'm not sure." Shit. What if he knocked on the wrong door and I just made a complete idiot of myself.

"Maybe not coffee."

My heart sank deep within my chest and I fought the urge to crawl into a ball and die.

Seeing my obviously hurt expression thanks to my inability to hide my emotions, he quickly leaned forward as a panicked expression flashed across his angelic face. "Could we maybe go to a book store or something? I really don't drink much coffee." He awaited my response, as he placed those silky hands back into the snug jeans.

My heart continued to pound, but for a completey different reason now. Now, it didn't pound in rejection, it pounded in attraction. "A book store sounds great." I gave what I hoped to be a small smile and twisted to lock my door. The key clicked into place and I turned around to look once more into his hypnotizing eyes, "However, I don't go places with strangers." I arched my brows upwards, hoping for him to respond with a name or a purpose or something to possibly jog my memory.

A wistful, peaceful expression replaced the stormy, tortured look that I couldn't quite decipher. "Oh Bella, we're far from strangers."


	3. Flesh

**A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. Life, you know? **

**Twilight is not mine.**

**Oh and I NEED A BETA! For real. I can't keep writing if I do not have a beta. **

**Enjoy.**

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**Flesh:**

_A wistful, peaceful expression replaced the stormy, tortured look that I couldn't quite decipher. "Oh Bella, we're far from strangers."_

We're far from strangers. Wait, what? I felt my cheeks flame red from the intensity of his statement. He didn't break eye contact and continued to stare at me as if he was gauging my reaction. Blushing, I turned my eyes away and told myself to breath. I busied myself with playing with the soft blue fringe of my purse until I could summon up the nerve to look at the god-like man in front of me.

"I don't know what to say to that." I stared up at him, butterflies still zooming around in my stomach. Normally, my natural nervousness drove me away from any conversation with random male strangers, but with him, the nerves seemed to grow from the electrical chemistry between us.

A breath that I didn't know he was holding suddenly swirled out of his round lips and wafted around my head, comforting me with a chilly peppermint scent; it was delicious.

"Of course you don't know what to say to that, I'm so sorry, you must be terribly confused." He frowned, seemingly upset with himself. "I'm Edward." The most stunning lop sided grin slowly stretched across his ethereal face, igniting a smoldering burn in my belly.

I expected him to move his hand towards me for a handshake, but instead his hands stayed firmly in those snug jeans.

Again I paused in awe of this creature, but he began to look uncomfortable at my silence, his golden eyes went from happy to embarrassed; great he must thing I'm a complete dunce. Way to go Bella.

"I- I'm--" I stuttered only to be gently interrupted.

"Bella, yes I know." He attempted another comforting smile.

I felt my face again burn with the surprise of already being well known.

"Well, know that the awkward introductions, or possibly reintroductions have been made, would you like to head over to that book shop?" My voice barely sounded over a whisper, but he seemed to hear perfectly.

Again, a flash of pain crossed his face as I sighed, but it disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. "Yes, of course. Let's go."

The conversation on the way over to the book shop stayed light and airy, as we only discussed general safe subjects such as the weather or comments about shops that we passed. Surprisingly the nerves seemed to calm the more we talked but with ever step, my body was painfully aware of the placement of his firm body. He spoke so eloquently and my words seemed feeble in comparison.

The book shop was beyond precious. Snuggled between two cold buildings, the outside was painted a warm red accented with blue black shutters. The wood engraved sign read _Books and Such_ and I instantly feel in love. Edward gently pressed his hand against the small of my back, which sent electric shivers up my spine but broke me out of my creepy trance. I mentally smacked myself for being so spacey as I slowly walked up the three steps into the shop.

"It's a personal secret of mine." Edward nodded to the inside of the store.

"Oh, really?" My eyebrows arched in question.

We continued to walk into the store, the cinnamon and fresh laundry swam around my head and I sighed in appreciation. I tucked a strand of my brown chest length curly hair behind my ears, wishing I'd spent more time on drying my bangs out.

"Yes, it's my secret hideout. I tend to visit this place a lot in order to clear my mind and catch up on a couple of good reads." His eyes crinkled in memory. I thought to myself, on man. He has smiley eyes; I'm a sucker for smiley eyes.

I smiled in response. "Oh well I'm honored that you chose me to reveal your secret hideout to." A tiny bit of sarcasm tinted my quiet voice.

"Of course," he responded. "You seem like you can keep a secret."

With that, the conversation naturally ended and I nodded in agreement.

"I'm going to look around, if you don't mind. I really want to see if they carry a specific book that I've been looking for." I told him, staring up at him again. My eyes trailed up his charcoal shirt that accentuated his strong body, skimmed over his broad shoulders, lingered over his porcelain skin, and landed on his caramel gold eyes framed with molten hair that seemed to stick out of its own volition.

Unwillingly, I turned from him and walked over to the front desk. My body ached to glance and see what Edward was doing. Is he watching me walk away? Does my ass look flat? Is he even paying attention? My cheeks faintly burned as I considered him watching me walk away but I focused on the lady sitting behind the rose painted desk.

"Hi," I spoke softly. "I was wondering if you could help me."

"Yes dear?" The gentle old women detailed with soft leather wrinkles and a shock of white hair asked. "What can I help you with?"

"I was wondering if you carried _The Tree's Whisper_ by an E.A.M.?"

The lady frowned before speaking, "I'm not sure if we have it but let me check the database." I glanced down to hear the quiet clicking of nails of a keyboard.

I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't have it. No one seemed to have it anymore. It was an old story book that my mother Renee used to read to me. After her death, no one could seem to find that book and I sobbed for days. She said an angel gave the book to her when I was born, that it was written especially for me. I can still picture the cover; a swollen oak tree standing solidly on the cover with the title swiftly scrawled in gold on the top and the initials E.A.M was placed on the bottom right corner.

"I'm sorry deary; we don't seem to carry it here."

My heart broke slightly, but I tried to brush it off. Hope was a painful thing and it still stung every time. "Oh it's alright; I wasn't expecting you to have it. It was more of a shot in the dark."

I left the front desk and began to search for Edward. My eyes glazed over the book shop bubbling with people; mothers and daughters and fathers and men and boys filled the air mixing with the musky scent of old paper and leather. Soon, the autumn warm color head caught my attention and I moved in his direction.

He saw me approach and smiled that dazzling lop-sided grin. "Any luck?"

"No, the sweet lady up at the front didn't have the book."

"May I inquire as to what book you're looking for?" He cocked his head to the side that grin never leaving his face.

"You probably haven't heard of it." I said, adjusting the strap of my blue leather bag.

"Try me."

"It's called _A Tree's Whisper _by the mysterious E.A.M." His face turned stern. My words rushed out of my flood gate mouth. "It was a childhood book that was misplaced of my mother's and I've been desperately looking for it for years but no one seems to have it and I mean no one. It's such a hassle, I mean even the ever loving internet can't find this stupid book." I quickly shut my pomegranate chap-stick covered lips, mortified by the slur of words that just sprinted out of my mouth.

The frown disappeared and he asked, "Are you sure you have the title right? I mean, if you were just a child when you lost it, how do you even know for sure what the title is called?" He shrugged, that staggering eye contact momentarily confusing me.

Pulling my eyebrows together I answered, "I just the cover of the book branded into my memory and…" I stopped realizing something important. "Edward, how did you know that I lost the book when I was a child?"

At a loss for words, Edward just looked down at me again preparing to say something multiple times but changing his mind. His mouth opened and closed and opened again.

Steeling myself to the ground and once again adjusting my bag, I opened my mouth, "Edward, how exactly do we know each other?"

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**(insert cliche quote to make you want to review here)  
but seriously. i love reviews.**

**but i love betas more. anyone interested?**


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